


Sweet Ambitions

by noblecrescent



Category: Supergirl, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Awkward Crush, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Mutual Pining, Romance, Romantic Friendship, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27986739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblecrescent/pseuds/noblecrescent
Summary: Spending her entire life cooped up in secret, Anais relishes in her new freedom. It's only later that she learns it's not easy living as a human when she also wants to be Solar with Supergirl. She has good-hearted ambitions but that's not the case for those around her. Not everyone is Kara Danvers, or Winn Schott. "Friends" lurk by with double intentions and to top it off, CADMUS rears its ugly head to make Anais wonder what side is she really on: human or alien?
Relationships: Winn Schott Jr./Original Character(s), Winn Schott Jr./Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: Welcome to my first Supergirl OC fic! This story will cover the last bit of season 1 and the entirety of season 2, choosing scenes I deem important in order to tell the story. A fair warning that I might part from the several canon arcs along the way, otherwise it's just a straight-up copy of the show!
> 
> The OC will look like the actress Ana Mulvoy Ten!
> 
> Pronounciation of her name is as followed: Ah-nah-ees

A young woman snapped a picture of the sky just as a couple of humming birds flew by. The angle was perfect! She lowered her professional camera, revealing sparkly green eyes. She was dazzled as she saw her picture on the camera screen. "Dad, I got another one!" she called for her father but noticed he'd gone inside the house. "Mom?" she then called but no one answered.

" _What do you mean she's been infected?"_ the young woman began to hear voices from the inside. Super hearing allowed for some interesting eavesdropping sometimes, and when her adoptive parents were secret government scientists, the information was even juicier.

" _We're not sure but she might have been affected_ ," went the voice of a man she immediately recognized. It was for that reason that the woman put her full attention to the conversation. " _Supergirl's civilian form is usually a kind woman and now she's acting far colder than ever before. We tracked her initial behaviors back to a fight she had. We need your expertise on Kryptonian weaknesses_."

The woman's eyes widened in alarm at the important name. _Supergirl_? _She was affected with **what**_ **?** The blonde let her camera hang around her chest and walked into the backdoor of her home.

" _I assume you still hold the records from Superman?"_

" _Well of course we do. What kind of employees would we be if we didn't retain our subjects' records?"_

The woman stepped into the cool kitchen and followed the voices of her parents and the man into the living room. "What's going on?" she didn't hesitate to come into the conversation despite her parents' constant reminders she was a subject the DEO was wary about no matter how long it'd been since they'd first found her.

A dark-skinned man immediately laid eyes on her. They were rather cold for the first couple of seconds, something the blonde didn't quite like but was ultimately used to. It was the first impression many employees got from him. "Hello, Hank," she said cautiously. "It's been long since you've visited." She cracked a tiny bit of a smile, and how could she not? He was the man responsible for her rescue when she was a young girl who'd lost her mother.

The man gave a nod, somewhat smiling now. "It is nice to see you again, Anais. How are you?"

Anais glanced at her parents to see their typical uneasiness whenever the DEO was around. It seemed like no matter how many years passed by, the DEO would never be fully welcomed in their home. "I'm...okay. I heard about Supergirl, what's happened to her?" No one answered her. Typical. She sighed, letting her long straight blonde hair swish each time her head turned. "Seriously? I follow Supergirl's actions — I even have collages about her — so I really want to know if she's in trouble—"

"So you can help out," her father finished, settling a hard look on her. "We know how the story ends, Anais. And you know we can't allow you to go anywhere near the DEO and much less Supergirl."

"Supergirl wouldn't act so cold with me like the DEO has," Anais threw that back to Hank Henshaw. "The Department of Extra-Normal Operations should've welcomed the first benign alien just like they did with Supergirl. Did I have to be Kryptonian for that or what?"

"You being a Solista had nothing to do with our case on you, Anais. You are a peculiar case—"

Anais rolled her eyes. She heard the story far too many times already. "Yeah, yeah, what makes me different and a threat is why you keep me away. I thank you for what you did for me when I was a little girl and you know—" she glanced at her parents with all the love in the world, "—how grateful I am to you for taking me in but now I want to know about Supergirl. And good luck getting rid of me. I have the speed and the strength to outmatch you." Her straight white teeth were a pretty sight despite her sour warning of her presence.

Anais Allen(-Mjorlkand) did not play when it came to aliens, even if she was only half of one.

Bearing that in mind, while also counting for precious time, Hank decided to let the woman listen in. He knew she was virtually harmless, despite the weariness of the government. She'd only been five years old when he found her and her dead alien mother. Her now-adoptive parents fought tooth and nail to take her in and prevent her from being a full blown lab rat for the U.S. government. As far as he knew, and he did, Anais was a model citizen.

When Anais learned that Supergirl may have been affected with something they still didn't know much about, she was all for helping. Like before, it didn't quite matter how many times everyone said no.

"Supergirl can be in trouble and I may be the only other _non-evil_ alien that has the strength to keep up with her!" she trailed after her parents and Hank towards the front door. "Not to mention more speed! I _am_ a dedicated speedster, remember!?"

"Anais, the DEO may not be ready for you—" Mrs. Allen began but Anais shook her head to stop her.

"But I can be trained! C'mon! Just...just let me visit at least? I'll be under constant supervision! You can even tag me if you want—"

"That wouldn't be necessary," Hank cut her off, rather put off by the suggestion.

Anais set her hands on her hips. "Then let me come, _please."_ It was clear as day her parents weren't on board with the idea. Despite being adopted and partially alien, they came to love the girl as their own child.

However, the situation was tough and no one knew that more than Hank. His dark eyes flickered from the hopeful woman to her parents. He hated making the tough calls. "You would need to be monitored—"

Everyone winced when Anais squealed in delight.

"Hank, she can't—"

Hank raised a hand to stop Anais' father. "Unfortunately, she _is_ well over the legal age—"

"23 years!" Anais was quick to remind, even waving a hand above her head. Her parents shot her the clear look to _be quiet_.

"Wouldn't this go against the rules, though?" Mrs. Allen wondered, continuously glancing at her daughter with fear. "It was clear we had to keep Anais under constant supervision and away from society until we were sure…"

"That I wasn't gonna accidentally blow people up, yes I know," Anais rolled her eyes. "Which I haven't, okay? Except for that one time I accidentally blew up the garden shed."

_"And?"_ Mr. Allen threw a mock-glare.

She sighed and added in a much quieter voice, "...and the garage." She straightened herself up and put on her more serious face possible. "But I'm 23 now. I've practiced enough times to know what I'm doing. Just give me the chance to actually help."

Her hopefulness was answered again with a conditional yes from both parties. She would be under the direction supervision of Hank and any other trusted employees he would need. Anais didn't care. All she knew was that she would finally meet Supergirl and possibly even National City if she had free time.

Oh yes, she would definitely be taking her camera!

~0~

The DEO was bustling with the newest Fort Rozz escapee and with little to no help from Supergirl herself. Her lack of presence, however, was not a complete damper on Anais' mood.

"Oh my god I know this place is meant to hate me but it is _so_ cool!" Anais' laughter echoed in the main room, attracting the attention of most employees, among them Alex Danvers.

"Uh...who is she?" the woman came to stop Anais from touching a desk.

"Ow," Anais pouted and rubbed the back of her hand where Alex had smacked her.

"Anais Allen. She is a special DEO interest who may be able to help us with Supergirl," Hank cleared his throat, warning Anais with a glance not to disclose more about herself. Alex looked Anais over with reasonable suspicion. At a time like this Hank decided to bring in some stranger to help with her sister? "Her parents are working on a possible explanation to Supergirl's condition," Hank went on, hoping to get eyes off Anais.

"Her parents being…?" Alex expected to know the answer but Hank left it briefly with "special DEO scientists" and moved on once again.

Anais still flashed the older woman a smile though Alex didn't return it. Anais tried not to look so disappointed - she could _feel_ Alex's concern for...Supergirl? Anais tilted her head as she tried to make sense of the feelings she could actually feel. Because yes, at times, she could be an empathic. She could literally _feel_ other people's feelings, whether they were good or bad. It was a power she was still developing.

But Alex's concern for Supergirl went far beyond that of co-workers, though not couple feelings. It was that same love Anais felt from her adoptive mother: family. With that in mind, Anais paid extra close attention to Alex's behavior while Hank and the other DEO employees brought up the Fort Rozz escapee.

"Two armored vehicles have been attacked in the last six hours. Both carrying hundreds of thousands worth in gold," Hank was describing the situation. "Now, these two have goons managed to take out a number of highly trained and heavily armed security personnel."

"Alien weapons?" asked Alex.

"Almost. An alien is their weapon," Hank had one of the employees pull up a profile picture of a rather sizable man with—was that an eyepatch?

Why must villains insist on being ridiculous? Anais could never figure that out. Her father always loved watching those silly human movies with awful costumes and representation of aliens.

"A K'hund. Stronger than your average Fort Rozz escapee," Hank warned the crowd. "Now, we've obtained intel on their next heist, but we have to move fast. Lucky for us, we have an alien of our own."

"Yeah, that would be _me,"_ said another woman, a new woman that Anais immediately recognized as Supergirl. With a gasp, Anais turned around and saw Supergirl herself standing behind the crowd. She was looking rather bored by the ensemble of employees.

"You're late," Hank pointed out, not that Supergirl seemed to care for her tardiness.

Anais opened her mouth to make herself known but she began to get the same feelings from the other alien...and they were rather...mixed.

"I had other things to do," Supergirl said sourly. "You know I do have a life, right?"

Alex's eyes widened at such an imprudent - and certainly not like Supergirl - thing to say. "Supergirl…"

The alien in question raised a hand to stop Alex from whatever she was going to say. "When can I kick alien ass?"

Hank was just going to skip over her language for the time being. It was just more footage to collect and hopefully discover Supergirl's irrational behavior. "Let's move!" he gave the order to the rest of the employees.

As the employees began to spread out, Anais latched a hand to the nearest one she could. It was Alex.

The brunette woman gave Anais a clear look that said 'hands off'. Anais pulled her hand off Alex's arm and pointed in the direction Supergirl went off in. "She's your sister." The phrase made Alex freeze with shock. This only allowed Anais to continue on with what she wanted to say. "I felt that off her hostility towards you. It's not like the one she has against Hank! But to be fair, all her feelings are rather mixed up—"

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Alex grabbed Anais and led her towards the side.

Anais blinked, realizing that just like everything of the DEO was new to _her,_ it was new to Alex too. "Oh, that's right, I'm sorry. I'm—" she gestured to herself, "—a low-level empathic." Alex's blank stare made Anais smile widely out of embarrassment. "It basically means I can feel other people's feelings on occasion. It's really low so the feelings have to be extremely strong for me to catch on sometimes. For example, when Supergirl came in you got this whole concern that...while reasonable, didn't exactly fit within the role of employees."

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. Things were getting ridiculous now. "So you could...you think Supergirl is my sister?" she dropped her hand. "Did you forget the part where I'm a human and she's an alien?"

"I know the concept of adoption, Alex," Anais said all too calmly, furthering irritating Alex. "I was adopted by humans too. And if I ever did get a human sibling — even adopted — I would love them too."

Alex's mouth opened several times before she actually talked. "Whatever the hell you are—"

"A Solista," Anais was all too happy to name her species for anyone.

"Not the point," Alex gritted her teeth, making Anais' smile vanish to get serious. "Just….just tell me you can help her? Supergirl?"

"Your sister?"

"Fine, yes - can you help her?"

"Well, I'm not a science genius but my parents are. They studied all of Superman's records and they even got to perform some exams themselves. They've got the brains and I've got the bronze," Anais flexed an arm as a joke but Alex was in no mood for such. With a sigh, Anais got serious again. "I'm half human, okay? But physically I _can_ keep up with Supergirl. And I will try my best to help wherever I can."

That was all Alex needed to know. "You should wear a mask or something before you leave…"

~ 0 ~

Against Hank's better judgement, Anais was allowed to accompany the DEO taskforce to get the Fort Rozz escapee. The condition was the mask - first of all - and to have her monitored from the DEO all in the meanwhile.

"Stop touching it," Alex scolded Anais the third time the blonde started fiddling with the strap around Anais' arm.

"You guys seriously couldn't have gotten me a smaller thing to monitor me with?" was all Anais could say about it.

"We're trying to get funding. And it we were a bit out of time," Alex leaned back against the wall of the van. They were on their way to Supergirl's location, hoping to just get out and catch the escapee when Supergirl was done.

"I told you I didn't even need to be here," Anais gestured to the back of the van with a roll of her eyes.

"And Hank said you had to be under my supervision," Alex reminded with a touch of a smirk.

Anais didn't have the chance to come up with a good comeback for that repeated statement due to the van making a big swerve. She screeched when Alex practically jumped over her to get out the backdoor.

"Where did he go!?" she soon heard Alex's confused voice. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. He got away."

Anais sped out of the van and came to a skidded stop beside Alex, startling both Alex and Supergirl. "Hi, big fan!" Anais wiggled her fingers at Supergirl then looked at the dumbfounded Alex. "Right, I'm a speedster too."

Supergirl's eyebrows shot up at the presence of the knew alien in town. "Do I have to kick her ass too?"

Anais' smile faded.

~ 0 ~

"Is this really necessary?" Anais asked the female scientist reading off from a handheld tablet about Anais' tests results collected from her short moment in the field. "Because my parents have run these a thousand times. I swear."

The scientist said nothing. She merely came back to unwrap the monitor around Anais' arm.

Anais rolled her eyes and looked around for anyone she knew, and by that she just meant Alex or Hank. It was clear Supergirl was not in her right mind at the moment. _Just my luck._ She focused more when she started hearing voices of Supergirl, Hank and Alex not too far from the room. She shouldn't but _oooooh_ her superhearing really wanted to make action.

"...how 'bout you get off my back for once, Hank?"

"Supergirl…"

"I thought we were in a good place here."

"We're in a good place, when I do what I'm told. When I don't, you come down on me. I am tired of it! You want to catch the K'hund, go try it yourself! You're just as strong as me, if you wanted to be!"

"You know how dangerous that is for him!"

Anais made sure not to make any faces that would giveaway what she was doing. What did Supergirl mean by that? Hank couldn't possibly be as strong as Supergirl…

"And it's not dangerous for me too? Every Kryptonian on this planet wants to kill me expect my cousin. I have to live with that! What are you so afraid of? You talk about honoring your people, and yet you refuse to be one of them!"

"Supergirl!"

When Supergirl finally did leave, there was a trail of awkwardness left in the building. Anais did her best not to show any indication she'd heard any of that. After being released from examinations, she was turned over to none other than her parents.

"I thought the deal was I would help if I could," Anais glumly said after catching sight of her parents.

"Oh you still are," Alex remained in the building despite it being rather late. "After what my sister—er…" Anais smirked. "Fine, whatever. She needs help. And I'm gonna take it from whoever gives it. Your parents are keys."

"Dorks. They're dorks," Anais didn't hesitate to correct. The two women walked into the room Hank had brought the two scientists into.

"Annie!" Mr. Allen immediately went over and hugged her. "You're okay?"

"I'm embarrassed but sure…" the blonde hugged back nonetheless. By this point in her life, she was more than used to her parents' over-coddling.

"We feel we have a lead but we need to talk to the person who owned the building in the first place," Mrs. Allen remarked after hugging her daughter as well. She was worried sick as well but knew how Anais got in front of people when they happened to express too much love.

"And who would that be?" asked Hank.

"A Mr. Maxwell Lord."

It became clear to the three visitors that this name was not unknown for the DEO workers.

"Alex looks like she wants to punch this guy…" Anais couldn't refrain from commenting. This time, Alex didn't disagree.

"I hate him. And now we're gonna get him," Alex looked specifically at Hank for this one. Maxwell Lord had been one problem after the next and she was drawing the line at infecting her sister.

"That'll have to be tomorrow, I'm afraid," Hank said, not missing Alex's incredulous reaction. "It's late and we need to figure out how we're going to go to Maxwell Lord. I'm sure you'll be willing to help with that."

Seeing no other option on the table, Alex took it. "You bet."

"As for you three," Hank looked at the visitors again, "We secured a hotel for you to stay the night, all expenses paid. Tomorrow morning I will personally take you to Maxwell Lord for your questioning."

"And me?" Anais curiously wondered. The plan was great, it just didn't seem to include her as much as she wanted.

"It's best if you stay hidden," Hank replied, not surprising her too much.

"We agree," Mr. Allen said all too pleased. "We don't know if this substance is affecting all aliens in the region."

"Dad—"

"Don't even try it, dear," Mrs. Allen softly smiled at the blonde, urging Anais to save her breath. "It's the safest option for you."

_Sure_. Anais put forwards her best understanding smile possible. Her mind had already come up with an assignment of her own for the next day. The best part was it had exploration in the main part.

~0~

CatCo. was busy as usual early in the morning. There were new issues being made for the following deadline and Cat Grant was not a woman who accepted tardiness. This was the spectacle Anais walked into after the elevator dinged open. She didn't even mind that two employees had nearly run into her with stacks of papers. Her smile widened when she potted the Art Department on the far left of the bullpen. She'd never been anywhere near this sort of place.

In her awe, _she_ now bumped into someone. She stumbled back a step - as did the other person - and blinked with terrible guilt. "I'm so sorry! I'm lost!"

The other person turned out to be a dark-haired man with green eyes. He didn't seem upset when Anais did a quick and discreet look-over. "Don't worry. I'm Winn Schott, the I.T., can I help you?"

"Uh…" Anais quickly looked to the side in thought. She didn't really think about what she would do after coming into the place. It took her very little effort to figure out who Agent Alex Danvers' sister was - a Kara Danvers - and where said sister worked. It helped that she worked for the Queen of all Media. But now that she was here, Anais didn't even know how she would find Kara nor what she would say to the Kryptonian.

In all this thinking time, Winn had stared at the blonde woman, waiting for her answer. "U-uh...hello?" He waved a hand in front of Anais' face to bring her back to the present.

The woman blinked back to the present and widely smiled. "I'm, uh, looking for...uh...Kara...Danvers…"

Not a moment after she'd spoken the name did they hear an elevator ding. What confused Anais was that this elevator was set up opposite of the one she'd come in through. When the doors slid open, a dark blonde woman in a tight black dress, holding a latte in hand, emerged.

"Why are there _two_ ele…" Anais trailed off as Winn dashed towards the second blonde.

"That's _Cat's_ elevator!" he reminded Kara in a rush.

This did not seem to do much for the woman. She walked over to her desk, which happened to be a couple feet from the grand office. "It is absolutely ridiculous for her to have her own personal elevator, plus horrible for the environment," the woman casually rolled her eyes.

"KE-RAH!"

Winn winced at the loud scream of Cat. Anais still remained where Winn left her and only mouthed _'Ke-rah?'_ in confusion. It took her only a couple seconds to put two and two together.

_Kara Danvers!_

And to prove her thoughts, Winn was ever so helpful. "You are literally impervious to bullets and I'm worried for your safety right now!" he managed to get out before Cat arrived with eyes blazing in anger.

_Definitely Kara Danvers_ , Anais began to smile.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" demanded Cat. Another woman, a dark brunette arrived just a couple seconds later, holding a couple papers on hand which Anais knew at once were photographs.

"Your latte, Ms. Grant," Kara held out the cup, still looking unbothered about the situation. "Walking from the main elevator takes an extra 90 seconds, which means your latte's 90 seconds colder."

Cat's eyes flickered from the cup to Kara. It was as if she was waiting for Kara to snap back to the one shy assistant Cat had known for a while. But when Kara didn't, Cat accepted it with conditional terms. "Brazen. That's a new color on you. I don't mind it. _Yet._ What do you want?"

The brunette woman was startled. Cat hadn't even turned to give her proper attention but she would take whatever she got. "I've got a scoop for you. Can we talk? In private? Allez." Cat was never one to refuse a scoop and so agreed to see the woman in her office.

As soon as they were gone, Anais moved up to Kara's desk. "U-um, hi. You don't know me but I-I—"

"I don't," Kara settled a rather cold disdain look on Anais. This was nowhere near the Kara Danvers that Winn knew and loved. He looked between the two with rather concern.

"Right, but believe me...I know _you…"_ Anais almost shivered when she began to feel some of the coldness inside Kara. "I think you're sick…"

Kara laughed and languidly pointed at Anais. "And who's she?" she asked from Winn.

"I-I don't know...we were getting to that…" the man stuttered and motioned Anais to get on with it.

"Anais Allen, nice to meet you," Anais shook hands with Winn then attempted to do the same with Kara but the latter only offered a condescending stare. "Okay, let me try again. I'm from the DEO—" and this certainly got attention from Winn, "—and my parents are studying some...possible leads to your...odd behavior."

Kara frowned. "I am feeling just _fine,"_ her spat startled Anais. She moved around the desk, causing Winn to back up for space. "So you can tell Hank and Alex and all those little people that they can stop worrying. And you—" she got in Anais' face, "—can go back to wherever it is you came from. I don't need you. I doubt anyone here does. Bye."

She left Anais wide eyed but not offended. That darkness inside Kara was what scared her, actually.

"I…" poor Winn did not have a word to explain her friend's erratic behavior. His finger pointed after Kara and despite having his mouth open, he couldn't get past his stutter. "I don't—"

Anais raised a hand to stop him. "It's fine," she spoke serious for the first time. She turned to him with a matching earnest face. "Give me a rundown on Kara Danvers' usual personality."

"What—"

"It's fine, I know who she is," Anais then leaned forwards to whisper, "I'm an alien too."

This just made Winn's eyes nearly pop out of his head. "Y-you're a…" his finger made a swirling motion above his head.

Anais smiled, mildly amused by him. "I'm a low level empathic and what I just felt from Kara was utter coldness."

"Empathic? So then you can feel…" Winn trailed off as Anais nodded to confirm his thoughts.

"Very little but right now it's enough."

""Uh, well...Kara is…" Winn paused to think about his description and soon settled on a short one, "Do you know the Powerpuff girls?" Anais gave a slow, silent nod. "Picture Bubbles."

Anais couldn't help laugh. "Okay…then...this Bubbles...has got some weird super villain-esque development going on. Can I use a phone?"

"Yeah, of course," Winn led her back to his desk which turned out not to be that far from Kara's.

"I don't have a phone, sorry," Anais offered a sheepish smile for her lack of technology.

"That's a new one," Winn gestured to the phone for her to use.

Anais was about to dial when his words registered in her mind. "Hold on, I just told you that I'm an alien with low level empathic abilities and that I'm here from an organization that deals with aliens but me not owning a cellphone is the shocker?"

Winn saw how that looked and offered his own sheepish smile. Anais' smile turned into another laugh. "So...what exactly are you going to do?" Winn asked after Anais finally dialed a number. "You're gonna call the DEO?"

"Worse, my parents," Anais didn't need to be empathic to know how angry her parents were going to be with her after discovering she left the hotel without their permission. "It was nice knowing you." She took in a deep breath and began to talk on the phone.

~0~

That same night, Anais was brought back to the DEO and had a round of lectures going from her parents to Hank...and even to Alex.

"You could have outed Supergirl to people!" the older Danvers sister was the last one to have her turn.

"But I didn't," Anais tried to point out her good things as much as she could. "That Winn guy already knew Supergirl. Plus, it's not like I went announcing who she moonlights as. I _do_ know things."

"Well you showed poor judgement today, Anais," Mr. Allen still retained that punishment voice of his Anais knew all too well.

"No, I didn't,' Anais sighed deeply. "I am so tired of being treated like that five year old Hank found. I'm not her anymore. I'm a grown woman and it's high time you started treating me like one."

This outburst, despite calm and collected, might as well have been her screaming because her parents were offended.

"Anais," Mrs. Allen began, her voice calm but full of warning for Anais to keep it down, "You know we want you to be safe. And we just want you to be a responsible adult—"

"Then cut the leash!" Anais exclaimed, startling everyone in the room, when she stormed out of the room.

Only Alex seemed to be truly taking in what Anais was saying. It was familiar to Alex since she and Kara had a similar conversation when Kara decided to become Supergirl.

"We should get to work on that antidote," Hank pushed the two scientists towards the tables behind them. "Maxwell Lord already confessed to the red kryptonite situation. He'll be more than glad to work from his cell." He then motioned to the tablet that would produce the video chat between Maxwell and the scientists. There was no way in hell he would he getting out until they reversed what he'd done to Supergirl.

~0~

After a failed night of clubbing, Kara got to meet Cat on their usual balcony spot, as Supergirl.

_Wasting my time,_ Kara kept thinking just as Cat emerged from her office. "What do you want?"

Cat sensed the frosty attitude already but she preferred to think it was nothing for the moment. "Well, I would like to know if Ashton Kutcher and his camera crew are hiding underneath your cape. Supergirl would never release an evil alien caught in the act of armed robbery. So, I assume I'm being Punk'd." Despite replaying Siobhan's images of Supergirl doing just that, she couldn't believe it. There had to be a proper reason for it.

"I wouldn't assume anything from now on, Cat," Supergirl casually waved the media Queen off.

"Did you just call me Cat?"

Supergirl got up from her chair and went to lean on the balcony. "You branded me in the media as a Girl Scout. ' _Supergirl is brave, kind and strong_.'" Mmm-hmm? Isn't that kind of a stock characterization? Very two-dimensional. Everyone knows real people have a dark side."

Even Supergirl's steps were off, Cat noticed. Usually the Kryptonian would tread lightly, determined to figure out what was wrong. The Supergirl right now, though, walked with a condescending air. A superior one. "Yes, but you don't get to be a real person. You're a superhero. You get to represent all the goodness in the world."

"Yeah, well, I'm sick of it. And you know what else I'm sick of? Enabling all of you in your victimhood. ' _Oh, well, my building's burning down,_ " Supergirl mocked the humans she now thought worthless and idiotic, " _La-di-dah._ _Supergirl will just swoop in and save the day_.' Well, get used to the flames, people, 'cause I quit."

And yet, none of this made sense to Cat. "Supergirl... I fear that you're having some sort of mental breakdown. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us, and I'm happy to take you to Dr. Shuman for emergency Lexapro, that is, if your alien brain will respond to the SSRls. But in the meantime, I would lay low. This haughty attitude is highly unsuitable."

Supergirl scoffed. "Well, I learned it from the best. Cat Grant. You're the most arrogant, self-serving, mean-spirited person I know."

Cat nearly lost it but she kept herself cool when she made her own response. "Now, you listen to me. I made you. And you are not going to let me down."

Supergirl almost laughed. "Or what? Wait, I forgot. You're the most powerful person in National City. At least that's what they say on TV. You want to see what powerful really looks like?" she struck a strong hand forwards, grabbing Cat's arm. "Watch." She threw Cat over the balcony and peered below to watch the woman scream in terror during her fall. Then, just a mere inch from the pavement did Supergirl catch Cat. By this point, there were several people on the spot watching. With hair all over her face, Cat watched as Supergirl towered over her. "True power, Cat, is deciding who will live and who will die. And don't ever call me again." She sprang into the air and left her spectacle.

~0~

The next day, Alex walked into the favorite coffee shop that Kara usually visited in the mornings. She spotted the blonde alien she was searching for, ironically not her sister yet, sitting at the counter. It appeared Anais had only ordered a small espresso.

"How'd you even find me?" Anais spoke quietly in her seat. Her finger traced the espresso cup despite its heat. Knowing Alex was looking at this action, she added, "I'm impervious to heat. Part of being a Solista."

"Right," Alex made a mental note to do some research on what a 'Solista' was. There had to be a record of it in the DEO.

"So how'd you find me?"

"Your monitoring gave us a specific vitals to search for, specifically heat levels."

"Ah," Anais picked up her espresso and took a big drink from it, proving once again her impervious to heat ability.

"Listen, you and I, we don't know each other that well to have a heart to heart conversation but I know you have professionalism and initiative."

"Well that's great, any way you can pass the message to the others?"

Alex let the sarcasm slide on account of the situation. "I get you want freedom—"

"Do you really?" Anais challenged, lowering her cup. She knew that Alex meant no harm. She was probably trying to find some help for her sister. Nothing to be ashamed of. It was simply tiring to be stuck in the same spot. Anais was done with it. "They found me when I was 5 years old. My mother was an alien and my father a human who became afraid of her when he learned what she was. He left us. Humans murdered my mother out of fear and when the DEO found me, they thought that I could turn out to be a threat. But my adoptive parents, they didn't see me that way and fought and negotiated to take me in. They adopted me under special circumstances and conditions. Those conditions came from the government and it said that I could not be left unsupervised. I'm a rare species as it is, and I'm half human, so...you can imagine the interest in me. Eighteen years I've lived in isolation with only my parents and godparents. These people are older, scientists, and human. I love them but I want to go out and _do_ something. Have a _life."_

Alex lowered her gaze after listening. It was easy to forget that not every alien would've had the same nice backstory like Kara and her cousin. Some of them could have very well ended up as lab rats. Anais, while being lucky to have found sympathizing human parents, didn't necessarily boast a social life. She was kept under wraps that not even Hank was able to undo. "I'm sorry," Alex truly felt for her. "I'm sorry that you have not had this opportunity. My sister sort of had a similar problem when growing up. We asked her not to use her powers, but…"

"She's now Supergirl. She got over it," Anais then added in a quiet voice, "Wish I could've met her and not the evil bitch living inside of her at the moment."

"Kara isn't right—"

"I know that," Anais showed no resentment towards Kara for the same reason. The woman wasn't in her five senses. "And that's why I wanted to help. I wanted to go see Kara for myself and assess. I felt her coldness, her... condescension. The real Kara is suffocating in there."

Alex felt tears come to her eyes as she thought about her sweet sister trapped in a woman of hell. "Can you help?"

"I'm not a scientist but I can help with the delivery of an antidote," Anais let her eyes glow a fiery orange, startling Alex for a second. "Supergirl's my hero. It would be an honor to help her."

Alex smiled with gratitude. Just as she opened her mouth, a television screen near them produced Cat Grant's face. " _Citizens of National City, this is Cat Grant, live from Catco Plaza. As you all know, I have been Supergirl's most outspoken champion. So, you can imagine how difficult it is for me to tell you that I and Catco can no longer stand behind Supergirl."_

Anais' mouth slowly fell open. "What is she…?"

" _I made you trust her. I gave you my word that she was safe, a friend. I was wrong. Supergirl has changed. She is unstable and extremely dangerous. She threw me off of a building last night and threatened my life and…"_

"She did _what—"_

Alex couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No one told us..."

" _Who knows what else she is capable of? It's not easy being let down by our idols. Having someone who embodies our heroic ideals helps us believe that we can be heroes, too. Sometimes heroes fall. So, please, for your own safety, stay away from Supergirl._ "

"She just turned the city against Supergirl," Anais came to the realization not long after the transmission had ended.

"We have to head back to the DEO," Alex began to get up from the stool. "Something tells me Kara's not gonna take this lightly."

"You should go see her. I'll get back to the DEO. I promise," Anais dropped off the money for her drink and started out. She could not let the mantle of Supergirl drop like that, not when she had the means to stop it.

When she got to the DEO, she quickly passed all the warm welcome from her parents and got to business. "Look, Mom, Dad, she needs help stat. I could feel the coldness inside her and it is awful. She needs our help."

"We've got the antidote almost ready," her father promised. "Maxwell Lord might be a suspicious man but he does regret this red kryptonite situation."

"He should," Hank came into the room and shut the door. "He may have turned Supergirl into a monster now."

"One that the city might learn to fear quick," Anais knew that Cat's transmission was on a constant loop for those who hadn't caught up with the latest news.

"No need, it's coming along just fine," Mrs. Allen was in the middle of dropping in a red liquid into a beaker. "Might I suggest prison time for this Lord man?"

"We wish," Hank was bitter just thinking about their powerless situation. "Unfortunately, making red kryptonite isn't exactly a crime."

"But it was a murder weapon," Mr. Allen frowned.

"Didn't exactly kill anyone."

"Your law system isn't very good," Anais meant that in general for the humans.

"Well we do try, Miss Allen," a dark-skinned woman walked into the room with several guards. Anais instinctively took a step back towards her parents. She could practically smell the official government scent off the woman. "I'm Senator Crane," the woman introduced herself. "And as of now, you Miss Allen, are the being who will take Supergirl down."

Anais' eyes widened with alarm. She quickly glanced at her parents for some help, even Hank. Mr. Allen put his hands over her shoulders and looked directly at Senator Crane. "Our daughter is part of an exclusive contract that does not permit her to use her powers in front of civilians."

"And as of right now, that contract has been voided," Senator Crane responded with that authorization that only a person in true power could use. She motioned one of the guards to hand over a pile of papers to Mr. Allen, which turned out to be a contract. "As of now, your custody of Subject 1740, Anais Mjorkland, has been terminated. She is now DEO property—" Anais' mouth fell open in overwhelming offence, "—to which—" the Senator threw a glance at Hank, "-I _order_ to use this new asset to take Supergirl down."

"Excuse you—" Anais was about to go on a full rage rampage but she felt her father squeeze her shoulders, urging her to keep calm.

"Senator," Mrs. Allen began, her motherly concern etched across her face, "My daughter is _not_ an 'asset' and she most definitely is not property you can just hand around—"

"I am sorry," the Senator repeated her apology, not that any of the family believed her. "I understand the terminology is difficult—"

_"Offensive,"_ Anais snapped. "It's offensive."

"—but the condition to keep the child was to give conditional custody to the U.S government. The custody is now the DEO's and Mr. Henkshaw knows how to utilize his materials. We thank you for all the years you put into her but you are now relieved of any responsibility of her."

"Are you kidding me!?" Anais exclaimed, her head repeatedly looking from her parents to the Senator. "I'm 23! You can't—you can't do this! I want to help Supergirl, not _kill_ her. I could never hurt her."

"As of now, you follow the orders the DEO gives you," the Senator flexed a finger for Anais to come to her and Hank.

Anais shook her head, unable to take a step away from her parents.

"Senator…" Mr. Allen pleaded with the woman, but the deal was done.

Anais belonged to the DEO.

"You need to get ready, Miss Allen. We are sending you out."

"Dad…" Anais' eyes filled with tears. Suddenly her fight with her parents seemed petty and now all she wanted to do was take refuge with them. "Mom?"

Mr. Allen brought a hand to his forehead after reading the contract. "This is...it's legal...I don't…"

"I order you to assemble the troops for backup," the Senator warned Hank before taking her leave with her guards.

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Anais repeated, not that it mattered anymore. There wasn't much anyone could do at the moment and she knew it.

"Sweetheart, no one is going to let you become property, alright?" Mrs. Allen cupped her face. "We're going to fix it, I swear. You're not a subject to us, you're our daughter."

Hank cleared his throat to get their attention. "Anais, for now, it's best to just follow the contract. Afterwards we can personally go over it and change it again. But we really do need to bring Supergirl the antidote."

"We trust you, Hank," Mr. Allen warned him. "You saved her the first time...don't let anything happen to her."

"Of course," Hank's gesture for Anais to follow him was hard enough seeing, let alone following it.

With a gulp, Anais took one last look at her parents then walked out of the room with Hank. For the girl who'd always wanted to go out, she was terrified now that she had the opportunity.

~ 0 ~

Hearing what the DEO was planning on doing was probably the second most horrible thing Alex had heard that night. Her visit to Kara's apartment had been unsuccessful on her part — evil Kara got to say everything off her chest.

"Take this," Alex gently handed over a simple mask to Anais as the troops readily got into the vans that would soon go on the hunt for Supergirl.

Anais stared blankly at the mask in Alex's hands. Alex thought this entire thing was difficult enough, she really didn't want to deal with a refusing alien. "Look, please just take the mask. Hank said you need to protect your—"

"I know what it means," Anais quietly said and crossed her arms. "I don't need it."

With a sigh, Alex held the mask closer to Anais. "I don't like this any more than you do, _believe_ me, but they're orders."

"No, I meant, I really don't need it," Anais raised her head and let Alex in on her secret. Anais' face glowed golden as something formed over her eyes - a mask.

Alex watched in awe as the golden light formed a mask that went around Anais' eyes with small flame-figures streaking midway down her cheeks. "How'd you do that?" asked Alex who now lowered the mask in her hand.

"It's just creating shapes with my powers, honestly. My mother said it was basic enough so that all Solista toddlers knew how to do it, even a half-Solista."

"Oh…" Alex knew this was just as troublesome for Anais. Honestly, she felt ready to die.

"Ladies," Hank called to them from the other end of the room, "Are we ready?"

"Don't really have a choice, do we?" Anais glanced at Alex, neither of them ready for the plan. The antidote was ready, but the way they would deliver it and the circumstances of it were not very pleasing.

~ 0 ~

Supergirl had made herself known for the wrong reasons all on her own. Cat's informative transmission remained on a constant loop and so that was the first thing she took down. Strong, white lasers shattered the street screen hanging from a freeway bridge. She laughed maniacally as the humans screamed in terror.

"Idiots," she flew to the next closest transmission and proceeded to punch it with a sole fist. She watched with satisfaction as it too shattered and crumbled to the ground.

And then she began to think why just go for the transmissions? All those pathetic humans waiting for her to rescue them like she had no other things to do. Well, now they would have to save themselves. She started causing havoc around the streets, making cars crash into each other and cracking cemented roads.

It was all just too much fun.

In all that fun, she missed the speedster coming in from behind who rammed into her. Supergirl's scream as she tumbled across the street almost matched that of the humans'.

Anais skidded to a stop, wide, blinking eyes taking in the destruction Supergirl was causing. "Oh my God…"

Supergirl raised her head, her blonde hair flipping over her shoulders. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Hopefully, the girl who saves Supergirl," Anais answered with nothing but honesty.

_"I'm_ not the one who needs saving," Supergirl got back on her feet and dusted off her new black one-suit.

Her eyes flickered to the side. Anais followed it and saw a couple of humans still inside their car, trying to get away from them. "Supergirl…" she barely got the words out when Supergirl picked up a sewer lid and threw it like a boomerang at the car. "No!" Anais sped towards the car while Supergirl laughed once again.

Anais reached the sewer lid first and grabbed it like nothing, redirecting it somewhere else. She glared at Supergirl for that awful trick. "We have the antidote, see?" She pulled out a small metalic gun with the red liquid showing off in the back. "Just let us cure you."

"I don't need cures. I need people to understand that their Girl Scout superhero is gone," Supergirl gestured to the mess around them. "Though if you want to take the mantle...then it's me vs you."

"No, that's really okay—"

Supergirl fired her heat vision at Anais, something the alien speedster hadn't really processed in time. This time it was Anais whose screams echoed down the street. She scrunched her face and decided to fire back with the same power, only a bigger one. Her heat vision met Supergirl's, and the two's powers reverberated in a deadly manner.

And then suddenly, Supergirl swerved to the side and forced Anais to fall forwards from the lack of an opponent's response. Supergirl flew towards Anais and delivered a punch right on her stomach. Anais felt that to the core, literally, as she landed against an already crashed car.

At the same time, a D.E.O. car arrived and Alex jumped out from the back with another weapon similar to Anais', only much bigger. Supergirl glanced over her shoulder. "Outnumbering will not help you." She turned around just as Alex took aim. "Classic Alex. Always in time to ruin the fun."

"Supergirl!" Hank arrived on the spot as well. "Stand down!"

Supergirl's smirk said the opposite. "Supergirl, _yes."_ She threw her heat vision at Alex which then made Alex drop the weapon to the side. She charged directly for Alex, and twisted Alex's arm before slamming the human against the D.E.O. van. Hank couldn't let anything happen to either woman. The man changed into a green creature - an alien - and crashed with Supergirl onto the ground.

Anais had shaken off the stars from her attack and sped back to the scene. Her mouth fell open at the sight but she could see that this was not enough to stop Supergirl either. Just as Supergirl fought against the green alien - later to be known as a Martian - Anais summoned up as much power she could.

"Back for round two—"

Anais punched Supergirl across the face and then rose in the air for a final trick. A golden light encircled her body and released blasts of golden energy directly at Supergirl, proving to be quite a menace as Supergirl was knocked onto the roadside. Her skin shined with the same energy of Anais' as the former screamed, hands nearly carving into her face to get the energy off her. Still in the air, Anais fired the antidote from her small gun and hoped to God it would be over. Supergirl's skin then showed streaks of red but ultimately wore off as a black cloud steamed from her body. After such an attack, the Kryptonian collapsed on the ground.

Anais lowered herself to the ground with a growing smile. Supergirl would be alright now.

_"Go,_ please" she heard Alex. She turned her head and remembered Hank's reveal. Bringing her hand to her mouth, Anais watched as multiple DEO troops surrounded Hank and despite having the ability to escape...he changed back into his human form and put his hands behind his head, lowering himself to the ground.

He was arrested on the spot.

~ 0 ~

When Kara woke up, she felt her forehead connected to some machine. Her eyes flickered to the side and immediately saw Alex standing beside her. "Did I kill anyone?" Kara's voice was quiet and weak.

"No, you didn't kill anyone," Alex could see the emotion just about to pour from her sister's eyes.

Kara then noticed the cast around Alex's arm and remembered what she'd done. "Your arm..." she choked on her own tears.

"Broken bones heal and this will too," Alex promised her.

Kara sniffled until she couldn't hold it any longer. She burst into sobs. "It was so horrible, Alex. It was so bad. It was so horrible. Every bad thought I've ever had, it just came to the surface. I couldn't stop it. I didn't mean it...I didn't mean what I said to you! I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I said!"

Alex set a comforting (healed) hand on Kara's arm. "Kara, you're my sister and I love you. No matter what. There's some truth to what you said. We're going to have to work on that."

Kara could only nod. More memories began to surface into her mind. "What about J'onn?"

There, Alex could not answer very well.

~ 0 ~

Anais watched her parents go back and forth with different calls attempting to open up negotiations with anyone in power to redo the contract of her custody. Now that Hank Henshaw was revealed to be another alien - one presumed to have killed the real Hank Henshaw - the contract was even harder to change. The only thing Anais could do to pass the time was to visit the quaint coffee shop she had the previous day. Her parents refused to leave the city until the custody battle was done and won so they would be staying in the hotel to see it through. She herself had no legal say, ironically, in her own battle.

"Thank you," Anais accepted an espresso from the counter girl and gazed up at the screen above her to see her own figure in the screen. A small smile came to her face as CatCo. passed the few shots of her they'd gotten from people last night, fighting Supergirl. No one knew where the mysterious new fighter came from, but unlike Hank, she was being rejoiced as a new hero.

_Poor Supergirl_ , Anais inwardly sighed. This was never how she pictured her first meeting with her favorite superhero. Fate was a tricky thing. But perhaps it was only getting started.

Someone cleared their throat behind Anais' stool and when Anais glanced back she saw a much different Kara Danvers standing there. Even her clothes had reverted to a preppy assistant type. It fit her, thought Anais.

"Hi, um…" Kara didn't know what to say and so awkwardly pushed her glasses up. "Uh...I wanted to thank you, um...for helping my sister _and...me..._ last night. Um...I bought a gift." Anais watched her quickly lay a manila folder on the counter. "It's for you and your family."

Anais reached for the folder and opened it up. She found a couple papers inside and skimmed it (speed reading was a big no in public). With widened eyes she glanced back at Kara who awaited with a sheepish smile. "This is a new contract," Anais lowered the contract to the folder. "The one my parents are fighting for right now."

"I know," Kara managed a small smile through her utter sorry and embarrassment. "I talked to Alex about you and she told me what happened with you and your parents. It was my fault—"

"No, none of it was—" Anais tried to intervene but Kara kept going, determined to finish.

"I said and did awful things and it hurt a lot of people. I want to make amends and fix what I can. You are not property. You are not an experiment. That contract gives _you_ your freedom to decide on whatever you want. The only clause is that you must work with the DEO. as I am, and follow up with them and the government with your training sessions."

"Tr-training session?" Anais repeated. It was the only thing her mouth could form because everything else was still being processed with all its implications.

"Um...given your abilities, I thought I could use a hand...a partner...out in the field," Kara admitted then added, "Especially since the city hates me right now." It was how she got the contract pushed through. Supergirl was in dire need of some help to regain her reputation and since Anais had already done such a good job before, she would be the perfect partner.

"I would...I would love to," Anais began to smile at the prospect of working with Supergirl. "This is like a dream…"

The two women shared a small laughter in their seats.

"You know, yesterday...and the day before...you didn't meet the real me," Kara began again, this time quiet and guilt-riddened. "I would really like to start new again, if you would give me the opportunity."

"Of course," Anais didn't have any doubts who the real Kara Danvers was. _Bubbles._ She inwardly laughed at Winn's comparison.

Then, out of nowhere, Kara held a hand out. "I'm Kara Danvers, nice to meet you."

With another smile, Anais shook Kara's hand. "Anais Allen."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

And there we have it. Anais is OC #3 out of 3 total Arrowverse OC I am now writing! The first one being Belén Palayta from my Flash fic and the second being Graciela Haynez from my new Legends of Tomorrow fic too! Feel free to check their stories out under my profile!

Anais is definitely my more "sweeter" Arrowverse OC (you'll see later on), hence part of the reason for the story title. She's also the youngest!

As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is " **saiilorstars** "


	2. Project Cadmus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The whole of the DEO is under investigation for J'onn' s real identity. While Supergirl tries to ease things over, Anais wants to stay in the loop but at the same time she struggles finding her new role in a new city.

_What was once a symbol of hope is now a symbol of fear. Early this morning, Supergirl arrived at the scene of a crime at West National City Bank. But instead of the usual cheers, Supergirl's intervention was met with skepticism and fear. Some say Supergirl was under a mind-altering drug when she attacked the city. But she turned against our people once. The question on everyone's minds, what's to stop her from turning against us again?'_

Anais sighed as she turned the television off. This was the tenth newscast with a similar report she'd watched since the red kryptonite incident. Despite Kara's attempts to show that Supergirl was okay, the city wouldn't acknowledge it. They _feared_ her. If only they knew how sweet Supergirl actually was.

The elevator doors of CatCo. dinged opened and released a fresh group of people to the floor. Anais waited to be the last one in order to take a deep breath and prepare herself to meet Cat Grant for an interview. Kara had been nice enough to get Cat to agree to an interview with Anais concerning a new photographer position. It was the first step to settle in the city. Anais' parents, despite their concerns, reluctantly agreed to leave for home and come back next week for a check up. In the meanwhile, Anais was to stay in the hotel until she found a job and a decent place to live at.

When Anais walked into the bustling floor, she found another group coming out of Cat's office. They all looked somewhat scared but that was normal, according to Kara. And speaking of the blonde, Anais felt so grateful for—

Kara was nowhere to be found.

Thankfully, at least that's what she thought, she saw Winn coming out of Cat's office. "Hey, do you know where Kara—"

"Sick! Um, sort of, uh—" Winn seemed in a hurry to get to the elevator so his words weren't making sense to Anais, "She had to do a thing...ET kind of a thing…" He hoped that helped solidify what he meant and hurried towards the elevator.

"Thank you…" Anais made a face and turned back to Cat's office. The D.E.O. must be conducting something to get information from Hank, who was now revealed to be another alien. Kara must be there at the moment.

_It's okay, you'll be great,_ Anais sucked in a breath and started walking for the office. With a clear of her throat she garnered Cat's attention as well as another employee there. James Olsen was hanging up when Cat called upon Anais.

"And who are you?" her voice was sharp, that was something Kara told Anais as well.

"Um, Anais Allen, and I believe Kara mentioned I was—"

"Ah, yes," Cat remembered that with a roll of her eyes. "Kira promises you're the next Ansel Adams and that I would be crazy to let you go."

"She provided fluff for me—" Anais meant to joke but Cat Grant was not a woman to joke with.

" _Too_ much if you ask me," Cat motioned James to stay right where he was just as he was about to walk away. "Kira never really speaks about potential employees I can find useful for my corporation so what exactly makes _you_ so important?"

"To lay out the truth, if I may…" Anais bit her lip before using her speed powers to get herself into a state that slowed time around her, ultimately freezing James, Cat and everyone else. It gave Anais a moment to come up with an answer Cat would like. She observed the office, Cat's computer - though nothing private - as well as the papers on the desk which turned out to be nothing but work. There wasn't anything that would give the impression Cat slacked off from anything.

Time began again, and Anais returned the spot she was before. Cat and James were none the wisers about her special moment. With a smile, Anais answered in a calm manner. "To be quite honest, I just moved here and I don't have anyone here. That means I would be completely devoted to my job with absolutely no distractions. Sure I'm basically saying I have no life but I've got no reason to be embarrassed. All I want at the moment is to jumpstart my career."

Cat had been listening attentively so far, which was a plus. Her chin rested over the back of her hand while her eyes scrutinized the clearly bubbly alien from head to toe. "So...you're not here to tell me how special you are, then? Why whatever makes you special is the reason I should hire you?"

"Oh God no," Anais quickly shook her head. "Everyone says they're special which really just means no one is special. I want something, and I'm trying to get it on my own merit." She walked forwards and placed her portfolio on the desk. "And I happen to believe my merits are quite good."

Cat spares her another glance before picking up the portfolio and giving it a skim. She then motioned James to look as well. "Well?" she asked of him. "You're the head of that department. What do you think? Should I give the woman with no life a chance?"

Anais knew she would regret that line if she got hired, but at the moment she didn't care. She just wanted the job!

James passed the pages of her portfolio and seemed to be liking what he was seeing. "You have talent, Miss Allen. I think we can maybe work together…" Anais beamed.

Cat took back the portfolio and let it drop on her desk. "We will be in touch. Though perhaps you could get an earlier date to start if you were to come up with pictures of our newest superhero."

"New superhero?" Anais repeated, momentarily taken aback.

A small smile quirked across Cat's lips. "I suggest if you want the job you begin to give my work a skim. That will be all."

Anais gave a slow nod, mumbling a thank you somewhere along the way, then headed out of the office. Just as she pressed the elevator button, James caught up with her.

"Hey, uh, you came to visit Kara the other day, right?"

Anais nodded. "Yeah, um...I was new - still am - so that's why Kara helped me get an interview here. She mentioned you were the head of the art department."

"James Olsen," he dutifully shook hands with her.

"Anais Allen," she smiled.

"You wouldn't happen to know what's going on at the D.E.O would you?"

"Um... honestly, no," Anais shook her head. "In fact I thought Kara was going to be here to help me out. I guess things are really hectic now, so…"

"Well, professionally I do think your photography is good," James remarked. "And I know you impressed Cat with that whole devotion and not special thing you said."

"Oh, that whole 'I'm not special' thing was Kara's advice," Anais laughed quietly. "She said Cat Grant hated when people say they're special in their own way. But the whole 'I've got no life' thing is mine for sure."

James laughed at her bluntness. "You know, I can be friend if you'd like. Kara and Winn, we're our own little group here."

"Thanks," Anais meant it for sure. She was alone in the city for the time being and since it was her first time in a city - and _alone_ \- she would need all the help she could get. "Say...what Cat said about the new superhero...do you know what that's about?"

James nodded again.

~0~

_'And despite Supergirl having the city on its toes for fear, we did discover a new potential replacement in the hero market. This new hero, a blonde woman behind a fiery mask, took down Supergirl during the latter's night of rage. And despite having a third alien, this one a much more threatening one, the fiery blonde seemed to garner the gratitude of National City. Her fluorescent golden light was the final act before putting Supergirl down and allowing the Girl of Steel to get a cure. This new hero who I will brand as Golden Girl for the time being, may be the Supergirl's newest partner, and hopefully a means for Supergirl to gain the public's trust back.'_

" _Golden Girl_?" Anais' eyebrows were almost above her hairline. She leaned forwards on James' desk to reread the article Cat had written this very morning about her.

James, who was standing behind Anais, was barely holding back his laughter from her reactions. Cat Grant was fast when it came to owning the image of superheroes. No speedster could match her.

"I'm Golden Girl!?" Anais could not finish understanding what would possess Cat to give her that ridiculous name.

"Hey," Winn gave a light knock on James' office door after noticing their new visitor, "What are you—"

Anais turned on the computer chair to give him and James the same stunned face she'd been making since she first read the article. "I'm Golden Girl!"

"Uhh…" Winn needed to be caught up first which was why he looked to James for some help.

"She just finished reading Cat's article on the new superhero."

"Ah," Winn gave a nod, now fully on board. "Can I make you a suit?" he directly asked the blonde woman, tilting his head as he already began to think on some potential ideas. Anais made a face at him. "Hey, my experience is Supergirl's. That should count for something, right?"

"Not the point!" she frowned and turned to the computer again. "I don't want to be called Golden Girl. It makes me sound like a shampoo brand."

"Well, if you want the name changed I suggest you meet with her soon," Winn came on over to stand beside James. "She branded Supergirl like the next day and, uh...here we are."

"Oh my God," Anais buried her face in her hands.

"It's not a bad name," James tried to comfort the woman. "We call Supergirl the Girl of Steel."

"Yeah as an alternative name, not her actual _name!"_ Anais dropped her hands on the desk. "Am I overreacting?"

"We don't know you that well, so I don't really know what's the safe answer here…" Winn admitted, standing just a little closer to James for safety.

Anais threw him a mock glare. "You could have just said yes. I don't mind. I'm new...at this - I'm new at everything, actually." She sighed and got up from the chair. "I don't currently know what I'm doing so really, right now, I just need friends."

"That you already have," James smiled at her. "Golden Girl."

Anais groaned, throwing her head back. "I gotta come up with a better name."

"Weeeeeeell…" Winn was quick to grab the chair around James' desk and brought it next to Anais to sit down. "While we're on the subject of this whole superhero thing, can I _please_ make you the suit?"

"Winn, it's not the time," James was cautious about this whole conversation thing since really anyone could walk into his office. "And not the place!"

"Fine, we'll just take it upstairs then," Winn dramatically huffed and jumped up from his chair.

Anais' head followed the jump and blinked with surprise. "Upstairs? What's upstairs?" The grin on Winn's face indicated she would like the answer.

"It's a work in progress but it's basically like our own headquarter away from the DEO."

"A less funded version," Anais imagined, though that seemed even worse because the DEO was already underfunded.

"Exactly," James gave the confirming nod despite not knowing what Anais thought about. "But I don't think we should do anything until Kara actually comes in."

"Oh definitely," Anais agreed rapidly. "It wouldn't feel right, plus...I'm technically not allowed to do anything superhero-y until I get the proper training and stuff."

"So no suit?" frowned Winn.

"Don't recall the contract saying anything about a suit…" Her smirk was all Winn needed to put forth some potential ideas.

Anais laughed at his pacing while James just shook his head in, amused no doubt, but more collected than the two. It was cut short when Anais heard her phone ring from her purse. When she pulled it out she saw it was a special little number with "DEO" flashing on her screen. "Hello?"

Neither James nor Winn dared to ask her to put it on speaker but they both assumed it had something to do with the DEO the way Anais' entire demeanor changed. The blonde alien's laughter had vanished and was replaced with a nervous, serious face.

"I, uh...I have to go," she grabbed her purse from the desk and got up. She cleared her throat and faced the two men. "Thank you so much for...making me feel welcomed here. Um...I really hope I get that job."

"You okay?" James eyed her as she made her way to the door.

With another clearing of her throat, she nodded. "Yeah, yeah, um, the, uh...the DEO suddenly wants to call me in."

"Call you in? What for?" asked Winn, exchanging a worried glance with James. This was the same reason Kara hadn't shown up for work today and now it was taking Anais as well.

"Umm…" Anais tucked some hair behind her ear, "I guess to talk to me. Not sure yet. Will in literally one minute. I'll keep you posted," she opened the door and walked out. James and Winn once again glanced at each other but never got to say a word since Anais came back five seconds later. "Yeah, so I just realized neither of you have my number and vice versa. Do you want to exchange them?" Her nervous, witty smile seemed to be like a normal thing for her.

~ 0 ~

Supergirl and Alex were in the middle of trying to listen in on the interview Hank - or J'onn - was in with two people; the same two people that Anais would soon come into contact with.

"What's...going on?" the new blonde inquired as she came up beside Supergirl.

"Oh, you know, your modern-day witch hunt," Supergirl gestured at the big screen in front of them. "What are you doing here?" she'd been hoping to keep Anais far away from this since it really had nothing to do with her.

"I got a call," Anais only got to say when one of the soldiers guarding the control room walked up to them.

"Miss Allen, your presence is required next," the man made a gesture for her to walk in front of him but before Anais could open her mouth, Supergirl and Alex were already refusing it.

"She's got nothing to do with this, she just got here," Alex got to say first.

"She didn't know about any of this," Supergirl added. "Her contract sets her completely apart from any employee of the DEO."

These words didn't make the soldier blink. "Because she's an employee of the DEO she falls under the same category for the government: a suspect."

"How rude, first of all," Anais frowned as she walked towards him, ignoring Supergirl's and Alex's motions for her to stop. "And second of all, if you want to talk to me then go ahead and do it."

"Anais, you don't have to," Supergirl said, eyes directly on the soldier. "They don't have the right."

"I'm sure they'll create a paper saying that's exactly what they have the right to do," sighed Anais. "It's fine, Supergirl, really. I can handle it." With that, she motioned the soldier to lead the way.

~ 0 ~

The interview room was a cold, dull one; fit for a government interview session on the search for suspects. Anais stared with a straight face at the two interviewees, for a moment the only sound being her fingers drumming on the table.

Colonel James Harper stared at the woman with obvious disgust despite not knowing her personally. Even though the room prevented any powers from being used inside, Anais could just tell his hatred for her and couldn't understand why it was. Perhaps fear. It usually was always that. She then turned her head the small woman sitting beside Harper. Major Lucy Lane had big, soft eyes and a serious face altogether, but Anais thought this woman was not like Harper.

"I don't know either of you," she brokered the silence in the room, her carefree tone only irritating Harper more. "So, I doubt either of you actually know anything about me enough to have evidence that I knew about Hank being some Martian."

"Anais _Mjorkland,"_ Harper spat her true last name enough so that Anais actually flinched when the man's spit landed on her face.

The blonde alien sucked in a breath and passed a hand down her face. "Do that again and you'll know what a Solista is capable of."

"Is that a threat?" Harper scowled.

Anais startled him by suddenly leaning forwards on the table. _"You_ are breaking my contract by putting me in this interview room _without_ my parents and my Godparents who are my official examiners."

Lucy cleared her throat to cut the tension between the two. "We are aware of your situation, Miss Allen, and we only require your parents and godparents if the conversation is going to be about you. That is not the case. The case is about whether or not you knew Hank Henshaw was an alien."

"How would I?" Anais shrugged, her face indicating this should have been obvious. "I just got to the DEO a few days ago."

"But J'onn J'onzz has been the overseer of your contract ever since he took control of the DEO, isn't that right?"

Anais sighed. She should have figured this would come up. "Yes, that's correct—"

"So then it's only fair to believe he would have enough trust in you - as aliens - to confide in you about his true nature," Harper said.

"No, because I was barely allowed to have contact with anyone. I hardly spoke to him whenever I got to see him." Anais glared daggers at the man. "I have been treated like a lab rat for this place my entire life so believe when I say that becoming a confidant for a rogue alien wasn't on my radar."

Unfortunately, the lie detectors they had didn't exactly cover an alien like Anais. Her words, to Harper, might as well have been pudding.

Lucy's eyes flickered to Harper who seemed to be on the verge of seething. Anais, on the other hand, was completely calm and stared at Lucy. "I know you from the internet. You're Lucy Lane, the writer from the Daily Planet, right?"

"Not the time," Harper snapped just as Lucy opened her mouth.

"What? I liked her writing," Anais frowned.

"I think...we're done," Lucy spoke on behalf of all of them. She honestly doubted Anais knew anything about J'onn because of the circumstances the woman had grown up with.

"Thanks," Anais sighed with annoyance. "But I'm honestly so confused here. I thought the DEO was meant to protect the Earth from extraterrestrials who were clearly _malevolent_ but all Hank has shown is pure dedication for his job. I may not know him well enough to know what kind of DEO director he is, but I sure didn't need much to know he's a good person."

Though her words were pure and honest, in the eyes of Harper and Lucy, they were gibberish. She was released right after that, but unfortunately it became Alex's turn and she would not run with the same luck Anais had.

Supergirl was taking the blows as best as she could even though she was virtually powerless to do anything for anyone. As Alex was being interviewed, she stationed herself in the hallway just outside the interview room. Unfortunately, the earpiece she used to hear J'onn earlier wasn't easy to cover in a solitary hallway with only soldiers to roam them.

Powerless, that's what she felt.

"I remember once my Mom said there was a Kryptonian rumor that you guys couldn't handle stress," Anais began to speak while the two waited an agonizing while for Alex. Supergirl made a face but Anais kept talking. "She said your heads would pop. That sounded so ridiculous. But, I was five so everything sounded hilarious to me."

Supergirl gave a small smile. "I don't know much about your people. I guess...we haven't really gotten the chance to talk…"

"No, we haven't," agreed Anais with a sigh. "But I'm still grateful for everything you've done and that's why I am not moving from your side until this is over."

Supergirl relished in a new support-line she could draw from. "Thank you." The two women shared soft smiles. "How did you job interview go with Cat?" she'd felt so terrible earlier when she realized she wouldn't be at CatCo supporting Anais for her interview.

"I think I left my mark on Cat," Anais was sure of that. "I took your advice on the no special thing and she ate it up. Plus I told her I had no life so I would be available all the time."

"Oh, music to her ears," Supergirl crossed her arms and chuckled with Anais.

"Yeah, I'm hoping to get a call back soon," Anais crossed her fingers for good luck. "I also met James and even got to know Winn a little better. They seem like really nice guys but they're very worried about you. I felt that. Literally."

"They are," Kara said with a rather dreamy sigh, though Anais couldn't tell for who it was directed for. She made a mental note to come back to it when they heard the interview door burst open.

Alex was being dragged out, the woman handcuffed behind her back. Upon seeing this, Supergirl zoomed towards them. "Hey! What the hell is going on? You can't do this. Where is she going?"

Harper just flashed the Kryptonian a smirk. "Same place I'm taking your little green friend. Project Cadmus."

"Cadmus?" repeated Supergirl, glancing at Anais who visibly gulped at the name. "What is Project Cadmus? What is Project Cadmus!?" her questions went unanswered even as Lucy walked past them. Supergirl whirled around to face Anais, more desperate than ever. "What is Project Cadmus!?"

Anais' face was not one of hope at the moment.

~0~

"Project...Cadmus…" Anais said the name with a weary sigh. She leaned back on Kara's kitchen chair, wishing she could make this sound a lot better than she actually could. She hated that place the moment her parents told her about it.

Kara sat opposite of the woman, anxiously waiting to hear about this place she just knew what awful. "Please, just tell me…"

"It's the reason Hank and my parents created this joint custody of me when I was little. Project Cadmus is like a dissection lab for aliens."

Kara's eyes widened in alarm. "A what!?"

"It's meant to be a genetic engineering facility that treats aliens like lab rats. Aliens get amputated, skinned, drained, injected with experimental drugs - you name it," Anais shivered at the thought. "It's the place no alien ever wants to end up in on Earth. Every ability they have gets weaponized for military purposes. And I'm pretty sure a Green Martian has a lot to offer."

As far as she knew, Martians were gifted with telepathic abilities besides shapeshifting and the usual super strength. That lone power was valuable everywhere.

"How do you know this place?" Kara racked her head for any mention of this place before, but she came up short.

"Because it's where I was headed when the DEO first found me," Anais said grimly. "I was a child and I had lost my only parent. I would've been sent directly to that place if my parents—before they were my adoptive parents—hadn't stepped in to vouch for me. It's why I was adopted: to be saved."

"I-if this place is for aliens then...then what do they do to humans!?" Kara's mind went to Alex and all the horrible movies they ever watched about dissections.

Anais honestly didn't know the answer to that but she doubted she wanted to learn. Her parents and godparents always used Project Cadmus as a means of horror story telling. Unfortunately for her, the place was real unlike humans' petty fear of the Boogeyman.

"I-I need to go get them!" Kara decided on that split moment of silence, even jumping out of her chair to go.

"You don't even know where it is," Anais calmly reminded. Kara was radiating waves of fear that made the Solista alien cringe a little. She'd never been exposed to so many different feelings and now she would have to learn how to control it...and fast.

"Do you?" Kara's hand flapped at Anais in desperation.

"No, and I never want to. Look, we can't just break into a place we know nothing about. We need to be smart," Anais' words slowly made Kara stop pacing.

"We need someone on the inside…" the Kryptonian thought, her words quieter as she thought about some specific people.

Anais stared Kara down until she got the required explanation to get things making sense. That morning, as early as one could be, Kara had James over to her apartment. She would never be able to get Lucy Lane at her apartment if James hadn't made the call. Anais was there, hadn't left actually, since Kara really did need someone to keep company with over the night. It was a painstakingly slow night for Kara waiting to call James at an appropriate hour.

"This won't be awkward at all," Anais said the moment the three heard Lucy knock. She super sped to the kitchen to grab herself a glass of water (deciding Kara didn't even care at the moment which of her utensils were borrowed).

"I don't have time for this," Lucy made that known as she walked into the loft, catching sight of Anais in the kitchen. The blonde Solista gave a wiggle of her fingers from the table.

"So you're back in the army…" James made an attempt of breaking the awkwardness Anais predicted.

"And you're back in Kara's loft. I guess nothing's really changed for either of us. Just tell me what was so important that I had to come here," Lucy crossed her arms and, rather condescendingly, waited to hear from anyone in the room. "What is this all about?"

"There's something you need to know," Kara braced herself for the reaction Lucy would give. She undid the buttons of her shirt to reveal the bright 'S' mark of her suit underneath.

Lucy's gasp was automatic, a hand even coming midway for her mouth. But then, just like that, the surprise wore off. "It all makes sense now. I just didn't wanna put it together…" she closed her eyes and mumbled, "I didn't want it to be true."

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way. But you're the only person that can stop Hank and Alex from being sent to Project Cadmus," Kara quickly fastened up her shirt again.

"Why would I help you?" Lucy was quick to demand. "You and Hank... Why do you all _lie—"_

Anais nearly choking on her drink was loud enough to make the other three pause and turn to her. "Sorry, are you—are you serious?" Anais directed the question, mixed with amusement and incredulity, at Lucy. The shorter woman seemed startled by the backlash and crossed her arms again to wait for an explanation. Anais didn't know whether to laugh or call this planet a done deal. "She's-she's serious?" She looked to Kara and James for some help but didn't exactly wait to get any of it. "Okay," Anais put her glass of water down on the table and got up to join them. "I am _literally_ the embodiment of what happens when you _don't_ lie about who you are. I lost my planet that I can't even remember because I never went there! I don't know if I'm the last one of my kind and because I'm different, I nearly got myself dissected for _your_ race's benefit. And why? Right, because my mom was murdered and the government saw an easy lab rat in the form of an orphaned alien child. So I'm guessing, and correct me if I'm wrong—" she pointed to Kara, "—that if Kara lied about who she was, it was because she didn't have a choice. It's called _survival,_ Major Lane. My life on this planet has been hard the moment I was born into it. I could never even begin to imagine what it must have been like for Kara when she first arrived. So please don't act like you know better when you could never be in a situation like the ones we were in."

Lucy opened her mouth as if to make a comeback, but she glanced at James then Kara, the latter looking like every word Anais had spoken was just a plain, hard truth for her.

"Lucy, please," Kara stepped forwards. "What Anais said is how...how I've had to live my life up until now. I was dropped into this world by my parents, and I had to sacrifice everything, anything, even betray my fundamental instincts so that I could fit in with humans. I didn't have a home anymore and I was twelve. I _needed_ to fit in somewhere, even if it was a foreign planet with another species."

"If you have a problem fitting in, it's because you lie to people about who you really are…" Lucy's argument was weak and she knew it. Anais' words came back to mind. It was easy to say it when she didn't have to do it.

"I didn't lie and look where that got me?" Anais was careful not to shout out of frustration.

Kara motioned Anais to calm down. They didn't need to argue with Lucy; the woman was rational and, above all, fair. They just needed to talk. "Lucy, are you really willing to let Hank become a science experiment? And who knows what they have planned for Alex. I know you're feeling betrayed and alone, but if you go along with Jim Harper just to feel like you fit in, to feel like you belong somewhere, ultimately the only person you're betraying is yourself. It wasn't easy for me to show you who I really am but I did it because I trust who you are, who you really are, under that uniform. And I trust you'll do the right thing."

Lucy felt the sermons accumulating over her shoulders as each second ticked by. Despite her own feelings, she felt she knew the right thing to do. She just hoped it wouldn't cost her anything more already.

~ 0 ~

Anais was incredibly irritated Kara hadn't taken her along to retrieve Alex and Hank. She understood the reasons - which Kara had slowly, and repeatedly, explained while she and Lucy got ready to go out - but it didn't make waiting at the DEO any easier. Her contract was the only thing keeping her feet on the building, if not…

_Don't even think about it_ , she stopped pacing, however, when she spotted a couple of employees gathered around at the main controls.

"Vasquez," she quickly scurried over to the only employee besides Alex that she knew. "What happened?" she eyed the dispersing crowd around them.

"It seems we have a new DEO director, ma'am," Vasquez said, sounding and looking like she still didn't believe it.

"None of that ma'am stuff, first, and second of all...why did we get a new one?"

"Because our previous one turned out to be an alien who's now a fugitive from the law…"

"Right," Anais bit her lip then flashed a nervous smile at Vasquez before turning away. _Oh how I never imagined I would be in any of these types of messes._

Right now, she would probably be having dinner with her parents - maybe even with her godparents - and listening to one of her Dad's "dad jokes" which were just awful. Her mother would laugh, probably out of embarrassment for her husband, and Anais would just smile at them for being dorks. It was the typical dinner-like scene they had each night, when her parents weren't working overnight. She missed them, she really did...but she also liked the new setting with new friends, actual friends...and a potential job offer on the line.

"Atten-hut!" a soldier's command pulled Anais to the present.

She was relieved to see Supergirl and Lucy coming into the room. She had to keep herself glued to her spot in case of any suspicions.

"At ease," Lucy gave the instruction then headed over to the controls. On their way, Supergirl flashed Anais a pretty giddy smile that indicated all had gone well.

"Ma'am, we've had a…" Vasquez was about to inform when Lucy finished it for her.

"Security breach, I know. What are we doing to re-apprehend the detainees? What are Colonel Harper's orders?"

"Ma'am, Colonel Harper just resigned and named a new acting director of the DEO."

"Who?"

"You."

Lucy's face might have been comical at any other time. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. He was quite adamant about your appointment."

"I guess J'onn's gotten good at that whole mind control thing," Kara said under her breath to Lucy.

"You're gonna help me do this, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Kara smiled. "But you're gonna be great. This is where you belong."

Lucy took the compliment with another smile. "And you probably belong out there, saving people."

Kara gave a light shake of her head. "After what I did, the people don't trust me anymore."

"You got me to trust you. That's a start," Lucy gave the reminder with a genuine tone. She then walked up to Anais, head held high since Anais was taller than her. "I'm...sorry for before, for not understanding..."

Anais nodded. "I appreciate that. And I'm sorry too. I came on too strong..."

"No, maybe it was something I needed to hear," Lucy admitted, glancing back at Supergirl as well. "I will see you around."

"Yes, Director Lane," Anais mocked a salute, causing Supergirl to chuckle as Lucy headed on to begin her new job.

Supergirl moved on beside Anais, slowly sobering from her laugh. "You know, until you find a place...you don't have to stay at the hotel. I've got a spare room."

"Your place is a loft," Anais reminded, though she was excited at the prospect of a roommate. "Your bed literally has no room."

"That's because I like it that way!" Supergirl laughed again, swinging an arm around Anais' shoulders. "I use the room for junk but I'm sure we can clean it pretty _quick…"_

"Oh, using my powers? Sign me up," Anais rubbed her hands together. "I've gotta start practicing."

"It's settled, then? Roomies for the time being?"

Anais swayed her head while she thought about it despite knowing pretty much what she wanted already. "Roomies!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I personally like Anais' personality but maybe I'm a little bias, who knows! ;)

Anais is OC #3 out of 3 total Arrowverse OC I now write! The first one being Belén Palayta from my Flash fic and the second being Graciela Haynez from my new Legends of Tomorrow fic too! Feel free to check their stories out under my profile!

As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is " **saiilorstars** "


	3. The Whispers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anais begins to find her way around in National City by trying to secure a job at CatCo. and working at DEO. But what should she make out of a stranger whispering in her head?

Two blondes soared into the sky after one another. Supergirl made a quick turn, just as Anais was coming up, and managed to swing an arm that got across Anais' face. As the blonde Solista swung backwards in the air, different sets of missiles shot into the air after her.

With a roll of her eyes, and a rub of her jaw, Anais put her hands together to create an orb of yellow energy and shot it at the missiles. She landed on the ground afterwards, intending on taking on Supergirl again for a rematch, when she heard gun bullets fire from behind. Her super speed once again slowed Time around her so that she could easily, and rather effortlessly, pick each bullet from the air. When time started up again, she let the bullets on her palm fall to the ground.

Not too far away, she heard Supergirl's distinct wind nearing her, alerting Anais that the Kryptonian was enacting a second round. Anais whirled around in time to swing a leg and throw Supergirl to the side. She super sped towards Supergirl and decided to return the favor with a punch across the face.

"Sorry!" Anais made sure to call out before shooting into the sky again.

"So am I!" Supergirl called after her.

The two women were once again fighting in the air, but perhaps it was because Supergirl had a little more experience in the air, or maybe because Anais didn't have the right suit yet, but Supergirl managed to get an upper hand rather quick. Before Anais knew it, she fell directly on a table and brought down everything on it with her. The little groan the DEO employees heard could have been the sounds of a broken women, but they would never hear it from Anais.

Supergirl gracefully landed on her feet just in front of the broken table and crossed her arms as she waited for Anais. Soon enough, the blonde Solista sat upright with multiple cuts on her arms and face. Said injuries faded away within seconds, making her look new. However, the mock glare she had fixated on Supergirl was not one that anyone wanted to be on the receiving end of.

"Did you have to throw me on the table with—" Anais winced as she pulled a beaker penetrating her back, "— _glass_?"

Supergirl's scrunched face said it all. Of course that wasn't her intention. They were just practicing, after all. She extended a hand for Anais to take then helped pull the woman up to her feet. Anais cracked her back and sent a look to the monitoring employees.

"Do they have to watch too?"

"Yeah…" Supergirl followed Anais' gaze and sighed. The audience was never an easy part for her either. "Sorry."

"Protocols, I know," Anais hated that word, honestly. All her life it had been embedded as common vocabulary in her home.

"On the bright side, your showing such good progress," Supergirl remarked in hopes of drawing Anais back to the positive side of this hard training. "You're not bulletproof but dodging the bullets and missiles is no hard job for you since you're a speedster-"

"Child's play," Anais waved a hand at it.

"And your speed overall is said to be incredible too," Supergirl stopped by a table where Lucy was overlooking one of the monitors.

"Very for someone who hasn't been out in the field yet," the newest DEO director chimed in with a proud smile. "Though your flying...seems to be in need of improvement."

"I do more speed runs than flying," Anais shrugged bit ultimately groaned at her progress. "I'm good on the ground but a loser in the sky. What a dork."

"Hey, you're going to get this," Supergirl set a hand on her arm for comfort. "I'm still trying to get the hang of my powers."

"But it's easier for you. You're a full Kryptonian," Anais sighed over her biological disadvantages. "I'm half human and half Solista. Some of the abilities my people have...I don't. Maybe it's my human side that doesn't let me fly as well."

"Don't say that. We just started practicing," Lucy reminded her. "This takes time."

"I could have been telepathic if I was a full Solista," Anais pointed at them. "Imagine that. A telepathic Anais. Yeah, I could have been that great."

Supergirl chuckled. "Okay, you _are_ great and now I just think you might be a little tired."

"You're done for today, Anais," Lucy agreed. "Go home."

"No, but I have been practicing all my life," Anais shrugged. "I have powers but I just haven't had the opportunity to use them for something worthwhile, ladies."

"Well, before you can go out there, you still need to practice," Lucy warned, even wagging her finger at Anais. "You know the drill—"

Anais rolled her eyes and swayed her head. "Yeah, yeah, only small-time, petty crimes."

"Just until you get the hang of things," Supergirl said as a reminder. "Baby steps."

"Fine," sighed Anais. "Now I'm starving…" she rubbed her stomach and pouted specifically at Supergirl.

"Lunch time!" the Kryptonian exclaimed and not a second spared into the sky.

Anais waved a hand at Lucy and sped off on ground. Oh yeah, she was much faster on ground.

~0~

Kara had chosen a small-time restaurant that, according to her, sold the best types of pastas. Anais revealed that pasta was her favor lunchtime meal. Though they were originally planning to have lunch alone in the restaurant, a quick call from Winn changed that into a whole get-together at Kara's.

"Wait, so you just threw her on a table? 50 feet from the sky?" Winn almost laughing after hearing Anais' latest training session was about to get him smacked from the Solista herself.

Kara was making an apologetic face every time she relieved that moment. "I said I was sorry."

"Don't worry, you'll get better," James told Anais, probably the only more mature one in the group.

"That's what everyone says," Anais bitterly huffed and stuffed her mouth with some pasta. Despite the others laughing, she still heard her cell phone ringing. She reached for it on the counter and saw it was her mother trying to video chat. "Oh no," she struggled to swallow in one go. "It's my Mom. Video chatting."

"Answer it," Kara encouraged her. "She just wants to know how you're doing."

"Something about getting my ass kicked by Supergirl and having no job tells me she isn't going to be happy."

"You are _trying._ You've gone from being isolated to moving to the city and getting a hero identity. She's going to be happy," Kara nodded at the cellphone. "Answer."

Anais squeezed her eyes shut and managed to answer like that. "My Anais!"

Anais slowly opened her eyes and awkwardly smiled at the screen. "Hi...Mom."

"I'm so sorry to call unexpectedly I was just...well, to be honest," her mother said, "I'm home today and this is usually the days we have movie night and I was just missing you."

"Aww," Kara unexpectedly said, instantly gaining the attention of Mrs. Allen.

"Is someone there with you?" she asked Anais.

' _Sorry_ ' Kara mouthed to Anais, knowing that now Anais' mother would want to talk to all of them.

Anais cleared her throat and braced herself for the embarrassment she was sure her mother would give her. "I'm, um...having lunch with some friends."

"Friends!? You've made friends already!?" her mother gasped as Anais let her head hang low. The others could not help but laugh. It was the type of embarrassment that only a mother could provide.

"Thank you for that," Anais scolded her mother and decided it couldn't get worse than this so she might as well introduce her mother to them. "Mom, you're on speaker. This is Kara Danvers..."

"Hi!" Kara cheerfully spoke into the phone. "Nice to meet you-ish."

"Kara is letting me stay at her place until I get on my feet," Anais informed her mother.

"Well thank you so much for that, Kara. Though we have told Anais she doesn't need to work—"

"And then _I_ told them that I didn't always want to live off of my parents' money," Anais cut her off before she went on that whole lecture again. "Anyways, then we have James and Winn," she turned the phone over for the guys to give their greetings. "They work at CatCo where I'm hoping to get a position."

"Which we think she will," James said, smiling at Anais. "And I'm James."

"Yeah, I heard she won over Cat Grant in a minute tops," Winn added. "No one does that. Oh, and I'm Winn."

"Plus, she's very good at her photography. I've seen her portfolio," James said.

"Oh we know that," Anais' mother hummed. "We bought her her first camera almost a month after she came to live with us and she couldn't be separated from it. You know, she even went—"

"And that's all the time we have for embarrassment, Mom," Anais turned off the speaker function and pressed the phone to her ear. "Until next time," her sarcastic smile made the others want to laugh again.

"Not so fast, young lady. This call wasn't just to express how much I missed you. Your Dad and I are coming in this weekend to see how you're doing."

"What?" frowned Anais. "But—"

"And to make sure you're not overexerting yourself with all these training sessions we hear you've been doing. Plus, since it was revealed Hank Henshaw was actually an alien and now a fugitive...your father and I are concerned for your safety."

"Mom, I'm fine. Really," Anais honestly said. She didn't want her parents to feel concern for her when there was no reason. Lucy was actually doing a fine job keeping things running whilst keeping Anais contract-free.

"We'll see you this weekend," Mrs. Allen promised then hung up.

Anais cleared her throat and set her phone on the table. "Well, and the award for most overprotective parents go to…"

"Their concern isn't completely misplaced," Winn tried to make her see the logical side of the situation. "Your director turned out to be a Martian who was replaced by a woman who…" he trailed off upon seeing James' expectant face. He cleared his throat and smiled so widely. "Who-who is so lovely. That's-that's what I was going to say. Lovely. Yeah."

Anais smiled at him and picked up her fork to continue eating. "Lucy is doing a good job, actually. And I guess I see why they would want to come back for a check up. I'm just afraid they won't like things and drag me back home."

"Then we'll just have to make sure everything's good this weekend," Kara said like it was no big deal.

Anais, on the other hand, was much more realistic. "Hm, the fact I've got no place of my own and still no job isn't exactly where I want to start."

"Cat will call," James assured her. "I'll give her a push myself if I have to."

"I want the job but...I don't want to be there if it was just because you have to push her," Anais glumly forked at her lunch.

"I really don't think I'll have to," James kept reassuring while the others agreed with him.

"Well, I do have an idea of how to give me a better edge against the other applicants…" Anais admitted. She put her fork down as the others expectantly waited for her to explain. "Cat said she wanted a picture of the newest superhero in the city…"

"Golden Girl—" Winn barely got the name out before Anais pointed a finger at his face.

_"Don't_ call me that!" Anais took a deep breath and continued with her explanation. "Anyways, if I get a shot of myself then I could get closer to the job."

"Isn't that cheating?" Kara thought about it before Anais answered.

"No, just an advantage I happen to have," shrugged Anais.

"But is it a good idea to expose yourself when the DEO has you under observation?" James put down his own fork and hoped that Anais would seriously think about this particular idea before going through with it.

"It's not like they're going to rain down on me for one little picture that's not even going to show all of me." Anais' hopeful stare, which now included her hands put together in a pleading manner, flickered amongst the three helpful candidates.

"I mean, theoretically speaking…if we do this right, we can make sure no faces show up or anything that could potentially out her, or Kara for that matter…" Winn had unknowingly become Anais' new favorite person.

One down, two to go!

"I just feel like it would be cheating," Kara insisted. She didn't want to be made out as the bad woman in this story, but she also didn't want Anais to later regret this decision.

"I mean, think about it, please," Anais didn't want to sound desperate but the idea of returning home to where she would be cooped up again wasn't helping her. She loved her parents, she really did, but she wanted to start making her own life now. Securing a job was the first step.

"Why don't you give us some time?" James offered an alternative he thought was a good compromise for everyone. "Maybe we can come up with something else or, if we decide to go with your idea, we'll at least know how best to do it."

Anais' nod was disappointment but she upheld a grateful smile nonetheless. "Thank you," she said honestly.

Lunch went by without anymore snags. Still, it was obvious their overall hesitancy hurt James and Winn left the apartment, Kara felt an overwhelming urge to apologize to Anais.

"I don't want you to think that I don't want you to get the job, I just...I think you might regret getting the job on...these terms," Kara's intentions were truly honest and that was why Anais had no grudge against her.

"I know. Maybe I'm going about it all wrong but…" Anais threw the last of their trash of their lunch, "I _really_ want that job. Even from where I lived - totally secured - I know that working for Cat Grant would open so many doors for me. I want her to pick me."

Kara nodded. She could see the desire in Anais' face and wished she could help in another way. "You want to go shop?" she found herself asking. Anais blinked with confusion, causing Kara to nervously laugh. "Sorry, I thought...I thought that's a way to distract. I don't even know what I was thinking—"

"No, that's okay, I like the idea," Anais moved over to the blonde. "I haven't really met the city yet."

Kara beamed. It was the perfect opportunity for them to go out and forget about their problems for a while. Who knows, by the time they returned Anais might have come up with another idea for the job position.

~0~

Anais usually wasn't one for shopping, at least not when her mother would drag her around. She remembered her first shopping trip with her adoptive mother and still got shivers. It was just after Hank - or J'onn - stationed her with the Allens. Going from hiding to a loving with humans, surrounded by humans at all times, was a challenging thing for a five year old hybrid.

Since her clothes were tattered from her traumatizing experience, Mrs. Allen thought that giving Anais a whole new wardrobe would help Anais settle into her new life. At five years old, all Anais knew was how to best hide and stay off the grid. Suddenly, she was being brought into a mall surrounded by humans, shown dresses, shirts, jeans everything a little girl would want...but it scared the living hell out her. She'd burst into sobs, attracting the attention of every customer nearby, so from there on out, Mrs. Allen brought Anais clothes herself.

It continued on like that despite Anais growing up and feeling more prepared to deal with humans.

Now that Kara brought her to a local mall, Anais started to regret it. While Kara pointed out the shops she liked to usually visit, Anais was trying to get a handle on the level of noise in the three story building, and the lights…it all seemed to mesh together in front of her, overwhelming her. She jumped in her spot when Kara placed a hand on her arm. With wide eyes, she saw Kara giving her a concerned look.

"Are you okay?" the Kryptonian asked. The color in Anais' face had paled, making the girl seem sick.

"U-um…" Anais kept looking around, the quick-paced action bringing her special attention from passing customers.

Kara wasn't sure what was going on, but she suspected it ran along the feeling of being unprepared. She pulled Anais into a hallway leading to the restrooms. Anais relished in the quiet of the hallway, but once she was calm again she felt ridiculous.

"I-I'm sorry," she leaned against the wall and tilted her head back, closing her eyes to give herself another moment.

"Is it too much?" Kara looked out the hallway, even with her controlled super-hearing ability she could understand what Anais was probably going through.

"I'm acting like a child," Anais rubbed her forehead. "Here I am trying to prove to my parents that I can handle a life on my own, in a city, and…" she laughed at herself, "I can't even go to the frikin mall without panicking."

"I'm sorry, I should have taken you somewhere smaller," Kara came to stand beside her against the wall. "Like a shop or something…"

"No, it's on _me,"_ Anais crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "I've had so many examinations on my...powers," she whispered, "But it's always in remote areas or small places."

"So...you've never been somewhere like this?" Kara made a gesture to the mall.

Anais shook her head. "My mom brought me once when I was five and I freaked out so I never went back."

"What about when you were older?"

"I couldn't really control my powers and since there were no real teachers...I stayed at home instead. Even now, I don't have the same hold like you do. I've been cooped up for so long I never really learned…"

Kara could understand some things Anais was going through. As a child, it took her a while to learn to control her new abilities as well as just...adjusting to human life. She stood away from the wall, turning to Anais. "We're going to help you learn, then. We'll just need to start small."

"It's a lot of work, Kara," Anais wasn't sure if she could put people like Kara to do all this work for her, someone Kara barely knew. "I'm not...I'm not worth the trouble…"

"Don't you say that," Kara grabbed her arm and gently pulled her off the wall. "Now you've been saying you want to start anew, so...let's start again."

"The noise…" Anais hesitated to leave the hallway.

"I understand how that feels, so here's what we're going to do," Kara made a gesture for Anais to watch her. "When you start hearing more than you can handle, stop and take multiple deep breaths. I know it's cliche but it really does work. Your body needs to adjusts to the new noise level before it finds a level that's suitable. With time, you're going to get used to the noise levels in the city and you'll be fine."

"Okay," Anais nodded, willing to give it a try. She allowed Kara to bring her back to the shopping area and sure enough, she felt her ears ringing with the incredible noise.

"Deep breaths," Kara instructed again and attentively watched Anais. If anything happen, she'd just have to take them out of the building fast.

Anais lowered her gaze to the marble floor and took in one deep breath. The noise felt warbled in her ear, so she took a second one. By the third one, she felt the noise begin to die down.

Kara smiled when the woman straightened up with a much more calm expression. "Better?"

"I...I think so," Anais looked up at the three floors and fought against the overwhelming feelings. "Let's...let's go buy something."

Kara chuckled and turned them around, pointing to a store across them. "We can start there!"

Anais followed her and hoped to God she would keep it together. As it turned out, the store definitely seemed to be in Kara's style. Anais thought Kara's style was...preppy, cute...but not really around _her_ style. Still, there were some nice things she liked such as blue and white striped shirt and then there was the nice yellow plaid skirt she found afterwards. Kara's joke of looking like Cher Horowitz from Clueless did make Anais laugh just a tad loud for customers to stare. Things were going fine until they came out of the store and Anais felt a peculiar tickle...in her _mind._

Kara was getting frozen yogurt, which Anais hadn't wanted, so she was alone when it happened. It was a strange feeling to have something poking in her mind, but Anais was sure that it wasn't her imagination. She looked around but all she saw were bustling humans going in and out of stores, too drawn to their cellphones if she had to describe. The tickle (or poke) turned into a light whispers. She was definitely not imagining!

Anais whirled around trying to catch the culprit. There wasn't anyone suspicious but it was in her gut that someone was trying to do something to her.

"Anais?"

As soon as Anais spun back to see Kara, the whispers in her mind stopped.

Kara pulled the spoon out of her mouth, concerned Anais was getting overwhelmed again. "What is it?"

Anais brought a hand to her forehead again. "I'm not imagining, I'm not imagining…"

Kara was about to ask her what she was talking about when Anais' cell phone went off. Anais took out her cell phone from her back pocket and took a look at the ID on the screen. "Hello?" Anais forgot, only slightly, what she'd experienced after hearing the other line. "Um, yeah...I, yeah, okay. Kara won't mind."

Kara had returned to her frozen yogurt but at the mention of her name she cocked an eyebrow. "Won't mind what?" she asked after Anais ended the call.

"If I take a raincheck on any more shopping for today," Anais slipped her phone back into her back pocket. "That was Winn. He wanted to meet me for some suit conversations?"

Kara's laughter was rather amusing for Anais. "Oh my God, he won't stop."

Anais smiled as they started heading out of the mall. "I want to talk about a suit. It sounds cool."

"He has good taste but remember to take things slow," Kara threw the woman a glance. Anais agreed. "So, where's Winn?"

"Said in a coffee shop—you'd know the place, actually."

"Oh! Mr. Shertbets!" Kara burst into an excited exclamation.

"Kara…" Anais grabbed the end of Kara's spoon and gave it a wiggle to remind her that she still had dessert in her mouth.

Kara apologetically smiled. "So maybe I can just meet you back home."

"Yeah," Anais chuckled. "After you show me to this place."

"You're going to love it!" Kara promised then hurried to show her where her absolute favorite place was.

Neither woman noticed a young man across the street watching them. He frowned, though it wasn't clear to who or what he was upset with. "Could it be?" he whispered then went to follow.

~ 0 ~

Anais was sure she would love the cafe shop as soon as her nose met the sweet cinnamon scent. Kara made her promise to bring back a box of cupcakes at the very least since she would be returning home without stepping in. Anais wasn't sure what Kara would want - since the Kryptonian left before Anais could ask - but Winn would probably know.

"Hello," she found Winn seated at a round table on his own.

Winn was looking at his computer when she'd arrived. He lowered the lid and motioned her to take a seat. "Hi! You ready?" it was obvious was too excited over this new assignment he'd basically signed up for.

"Yes!" Anais was the same. "But are you sure you're up for this? Not that I'm doubting your expertise since, you know, Supergirl and all, but...this could take a while. Isn't your girlfriend still pissed she got fired."

Winn awkwardly cleared his throat. He didn't really want to admit that he was taking some space away from Siobhan - just for a bit - to breathe. He still cared for her, especially after what happened to her, but she was getting a tad grouchy. No matter what he said, she would shout and get angry with him. She'd later apologize and he'd forgive her knowing she wasn't in the right state, but the cycle repeated itself anyways. He just needed a break. And maybe with some hours to herself, Siobhan would calm down too.

"She's napping," he geniously came up with.

Anais raised an eyebrow, immediately guessing this was just a lie. "Napping?"

"Yeah, napping," Winn opened his laptop again. "Definitely napping…"

Well, who was she to poke a hole in a lie she had no business being in? She scooted her chair closer to his and went straight for the interesting parts. "So, what do we need to start in?"

"I need to understand your...unique biology," Winn purposely lowered the volume of his voice. "You know, what exactly _is_ a Solista?"

Anais nodded in understanding. "I am basically driven by light…"

"Yeah, kind of got that from the whole 'Sol' root word," Winn gave a light shrug of his shoulders. "Spanish for Sun?"

"My people are from a planet named Solaria. The Solista race are first and foremost speedsters. My birth mother used to say that kids would begin running as soon as they took their first step. Since I was only half Solista, it took me a bit longer."

"Do you mind if I write this down?" Winn asked. He wanted to keep useful notes for when they actually got started on the suit, but he didn't want to do it without her permission.

"Yeah, just...you know, don't share it with anyone please," she motioned him to go ahead and type.

"Okay, so what other abilities do you have?"

"Besides speedsters, we use heat energy. Um, the speed and the heat go hand in hand. I can fly, I have super strength, super hearing - but I'm not bulletproof so please help me out with that." Winn laughed and told he would try to come up with something. "So...that's...really much it...for me…"

Winn stopped typing to look at her. "Me? Why-why do you say it like that?"

"I'm a hybrid," Anais sighed. "Half Solista, half human. Because of that, I don't have all the powers a regular Solista would typically have. My birth mother said Solistas are naturally telepathic but it doesn't look like I inherited that. So, what do you think we can do?"

"I think we can fashion something that can fit your speedy needs. We're definitely going to need to add a cape - I actually made the mistake of not giving that to Kara and she crashed into a building…" Winn scrunched his face at the reminder. Poor Kara. "So we're not going to repeat with this one. I think the hardest part will be doing the speed resistance bit but I've done it with Kara's so, we should be good."

"Be warned that I'm faster than Kara," Anais didn't meant that to show off. As part of her biology, she was just naturally faster than a Kryptonian who wasn't on Krypton.

"I will make a note," Winn promised her.

Anais thanked him for it but she was cut off when she felt that tickle in her mind. Only this time, the whispers were almost immediately heard.

_Outside…_

Anais turned on her chair and looked out the glass windows. Winn noticed her off action and followed her gaze to the windows. "Is something wrong?"

"Many things but this one...this one I might be able to fix on my own," she got out of her chair and hurried towards the doors.

"What? Hold on!" Winn quickly shut his laptop and went after her.

Anais rushed out into the sidewalk and took a quick look around the streets. She caught the back of someone who was running away. "Oh no you don't," she took off in a normal-paced run. She wasn't about to expose herself to the public before even becoming a true hero.

"Anais, where are you going!?" she could hear Winn's calls from behind but she wouldn't stop.

The person she was chasing, which by now she could see was a man, was clearly running away from _her._ The whispers in her head wouldn't stop and neither would she. She made a quick turn at an intersection leading to an alleyway. "Got you now," she smirked.

The man had come up to a fence barring an apartment building. His hands gripped the metal but he wouldn't turn around to meet Anais.

"You're the one doing the whispers in my head, aren't you?" she kept her distance for caution.

"Whispers?" the man repeated with a low chuckle.

Anais' eyebrows knitted together in offence. "Are you laughing at me?"

"Yes," his blunt answer only increased her offence.

"Anais! There you are!" Winn came to a skidded stop beside her, completely out of breath. "What are you doing!?"

In that moment she glanced at him, the man across them started rising into the air. "Oh no you don't!" Anais was about to fly after him but Winn grabbed onto her arm to keep her on ground.

"You can't out yourself like this!" he reminded her.

"He's getting away!" Anais groaned and pulled out her cell phone and snapped a couple pictures of the man now in the sky. She lowered the phone to see what she'd taken, but she, along with Winn, weren't sure who they'd captured.

~ 0 ~

"You should show these to the DEO," Kara said as soon as Anais had shown her the pictures. The Kryptonian was staring at Anais' cellphone in their living room.

Anais was pacing in the room trying to come up with plausible facts about the stranger she'd encountered. "No if I do that it'll just give them and my parents another reason to keep me away from the field."

"But they could help find out who this guy is," Kara swiped through the pictures but couldn't see the face of the man.

"Or they could shut me down altogether," Anais stopped walking and turned to Kara. "I'm sure this guy is the reason why I kept hearing whispers in my head. It was like...like he was trying to get into my head or…"

"Maybe that's his power," Kara reasoned. "He could be with my aunt's crazy army, actually…"

"But then he would be after you, wouldn't he?" Anais didn't know a lot about Kara's aunt Astra - except that she was dead - but she thought the uncle Non would be more focused on getting Kara and not some stranger alien.

"Well, if we don't show these to the DEO then what are we going to do?" Kara's use of pronouns made Anais smile, but confused Kara. "What?"

"You want to help me figure out who this guy is?"

Kara thought this was an obvious thing but apparently not for Anais. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

Anais realized she was being ridiculous again. "Sorry," she came to take a seat on the couch. "I'm not used...all this…"

"I noticed," Kara gently smiled at her. "But here we are now, so...what's our plan?"

Anais took back her cellphone and swiped through the pictures again. She'd examined them so many times since she'd taken the pictures but there wasn't anything she recognized. She'd only met a handful of people in her time with her adoptive parents so...she doubted she actually knew him. "Maybe he knows me…" she started to reason. "He was doing that same trick on me at the mall. He picked me for a reason, right?"

"Maybe," Kara shrugged and leaned against the couch.

A smirk spread across Anais' face suddenly so Kara concluded she'd come up with a plan. "What are you going to do?"

"Let him know that I got him," Anais' cryptic answer wasn't very helpful for Kara...until the next morning.

~ 0 ~

_"Why_ are you in my office when I am trying to write up one of my best articles?" Cat Grant removed her glasses and gave Anais a warning look. "I just finished throwing out an annoyingly persistent Siobhan Smythe out yet again so whatever you have, it _better_ be good."

Anais had to watch herself not to rock on her feet. She'd come in with the intention of solidifying her job opportunity and acting like an excited child was not the way to do it. "I have some pictures that might help you with another story…"

Cat was never one to turn away a potential story, even when it was coming from someone who wasn't an employee. "Don't tell me, you've gotten a picture of Golden Girl?"

Anais inwardly groaned. _I am **not** Golden Girl_. "No, but—"

Cat lost interest immediately. "Well—" she put her glasses back on, "—then you can find your way out-"

Anais rolled her eyes and dropped the pictures she'd taken of the stranger-man onto Cat's desk. "You may have yourself a new hero on your hands, or enemy."

Cat gazed down at the photographs and raised an eyebrow at them. "A civilian flying?"

Anais gave a curt nod. "Had a streak of luck, but...I'm pretty sure I saw him running away from something...or someone…"

Cat picked up one of the photographs and examined it. The man, dressed in civilian clothes, was aiming for the sky but there were no recognizable features on him. "There's no other witnesses to this man?"

"Not that I know of but...he might show up again," Anais was certain of that. Things would pick up if Cat decided to publish the photographs for the public to see."

"Well, it's no Golden Girl—" Anais cringed but let Cat continue, "—but it _is_ something valuable." Cat removed her glasses again and looked Anais over, making the blonde alien very self-conscious. "I think you and Olsen can get me that Golden Girl picture by the end of the week." She made a motion for Anais to leave her alone.

"Th-thank you…" Anais followed the motion and turned around, making a quick stride out of the office.

Kara was waiting - and acting as if she hadn't been listening all along - by her desk. "Soooo?"

Anais was very careful not to squeal - she'd have to hold that in until she was up in their secret base, or at the very least the elevator. "I got the job!"

"Oh I'm so happy!" Kara gave her a big hug. "Now we can work together and live together! It's going to be a lot of fun!"

"One thing is urgent though," Anais got very serious all of a sudden, making Kara pause in her cheering. "I _need_ to give Cat a better name than 'Golden Girl'."

Kara couldn't help but laugh again.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Excited for the next chapter because it's the Flash crossover! Important stuff for Anais!

Anais is OC #3 out of 3 total Arrowverse OC I am now writing! The first one being Belén Palayta from my Flash fic and the second being Graciela Haynez from my new Legends of Tomorrow fic too! Feel free to check their stories out under my profile!

As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is " **saiilorstars** "


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